Radio Canada Wants to Use New Name That is Already Trademarked by Another TV Station

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Radio-Canada brand makeover draws warning words from federal heritage minister
Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - A new branding exercise by the French-language CBC has Heritage Minister James Moore warning that Canadians won't tolerate any move away from a pan-Canadian identity.

The federally funded broadcaster announced Wednesday that its Radio-Canada name — a cross-generational staple for francophone Canadians from Cheticamp, N.S., to Maillardville in Coquitlam, B.C. — is being subsumed by the new handle "Ici," or "here," in the language of Moliere.

"Canadians will only tolerate these changes if CBC can explain how they're not in any way backing away from what taxpayers expect from the CBC — which is for them to be a Canadian broadcaster, very clearly, in mandate and brand," Moore said in a brief interview.
The name change had been rumoured for months but was made official Wednesday with the Crown corporation's announcement and flashy YouTube video.

A screen crawl on RDI, CBC's French-language news network, read "Bye bye Radio-Canada" as it aired clips from a bygone era.
"We want to remake Radio-Canada because more than ever it must be a living space, an open organization, flexible and agile," said Louis Lalande, executive vice-president of French services.

"(It'll be) just as creative as ever, but more innovative and better attuned to our audience."
CBC says the makeover will allow a variety of platforms and programs to be pitched under one, common "Ici" brand.
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CJAD 800 News. Talk. Radio. :: Radio-Canada brand makeover draws warning words from federal heritage minister :: National News Article

The war over “ICI”: CBC demands new ethnic TV station change its name
March 27, 2013

Sam Norouzi is a busy guy these days. He's starting a television station from scratch. He's dealing with the technical side, acquiring a transmitter and antenna, as well as the content side, dealing with show producers. The plan is to have the station on the air some time in the summer, with a formal launch in the fall.

Norouzi is the manager of ICI, a new over-the-air ethnic television station in Montreal that was approved by the CRTC when it allowed Rogers to buy CJNT. Operating under the callsign CFHG-DT, it will air on Channel 47, using the same Bell-owned transmission tower on Mount Royal that was used briefly by CFCF as a temporary digital antenna while its analog transmitter was still running in 2011.

ICI, which stands for International Channel/Canal international, wants to bring ethnic television in Montreal back to where it was before CJNT, a producers' cooperative where people sell advertising for their own shows and the station doesn't try to make money by pushing the limits of its licence with third-rate primetime American programming.

It's a big undertaking, with a very large amount of local programming, and it's being put together on a pretty short time frame.
But now Norouzi has a new headache to deal with: The CBC doesn't want him to use "ICI" as the station's name.

The public broadcaster sent a lawyer's letter to Norouzi's company this week asking it to cease and desist the use of the name ICI. A statement of claim was filed with the court on Monday noting CBC's request to have Norouzi's trademark for ICI expunged. (Hat tip to the Citizen's Glen McGregor for alerting me to that.) Norouzi (whose real name is Nowrouzzahrai) wasn't aware of the letter when I called him Wednesday afternoon, because he's currently in Florida. After checking in with his father, Norouzi confirmed he had received the letter.

Marc Pichette, a spokesperson for Radio-Canada, confirmed that the corporation asked the station to change its name "because « ici » has been a Radio-Canada staple for decades (Ici Radio-Canada) and because it is presently featured in an advertising campaign promoting Radio-Canada’s very personal relation with its audience. In these ads, people evoke how Radio-Canada programs that they have seen “ici” have been a pivotal in finding their vocation or lifelong interests."

There's another reason, though. Le Devoir reported Wednesday that Radio-Canada is thinking of rebranding, and calling itself "Ici." Needless to say that would cause confusion.
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The war over “ICI”: CBC demands new ethnic TV station change its name – Fagstein

Let's see, Radio Canada spent $400,000 of taxpayers money to pay various consultants for a name that has already been federally trademarked by a small TV station. Therefore the name is unavailable. Apparently Radio Canada is now trying to strong arm the small TV station to give up it's name. I hope the small TV station sticks to it's guns, gets good lawyers and fights this tooth and nail. I also hope (wishful thinking) that none of our taxpayer dollars will be used by Radio Canada for any of it's bullying tactics against the small TV station.
 
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